PASADENA, Calif. — How do the wizards of television keep audiences coming back?

With so much competition, it requires a mysterious alchemy to spin straw into television
gold.

Robert King and his co-producing wife, Michelle, are show runners for the popular CBS series
The Good Wife.

They manage, he said, by cautiously approaching any explosive change in the plot.

“We only want to go someplace if we think we have enough story to go there,” he said. “And we
always worry about painting ourselves into a deeper and deeper corner.”

Their leading character is Alicia Florrick, a lawyer played by Julianna Margulies.

“It felt like Alicia’s life from the very beginning, the very moment that started, the series
was about her life exploding,” King said.

“And we’ve always told ourselves the show is the education of Alicia Florrick, and that can only
happen with change. And so each year, there’s change.”

Rob Doherty — the executive producer of
Elementary, the CBS drama about a latter-day Sherlock Holmes — found his magic wand in
making Dr. Watson a woman (Lucy Liu).

“Part of the plan from the very beginning was to establish a female Watson,” he said. “There was
a symmetry to the plan that I liked, and the rest of the staff really liked. It also seemed the
best way to break our Holmes was to say he made the mistake of falling in love once. And, again, we
were excited to tell the story of a Moriarty that was devious enough to romance him and then break
him down.”

What happens, though, when a favorite character decides to abandon ship?

Gary Glasberg, executive producer of
NCIS on CBS, likened the departure of Cote de Pablo, who played fan-favorite Ziva David,
to a sucker punch.

“The way that this whole season unfolded was a bit of a surprise for many of us,” he said.

“To suddenly lose a character that has been a part of the show for nine seasons is significant.
And when you replace that character . . . I wanted to do something that was different. I wanted it
to feel incredibly different but not change the chemistry and the mix of what makes
NCIS work.”

Emily Wickersham replaced de Pablo. She plays Ellie Bishop, an analyst with the National
Security Agency.

“Bishop is different,” Glasberg said. “She handles herself differently, and Emily has brought
all kinds of layers to the character.”